Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Frivolous lawsuit loserette of the day: Colleen O'Neal.

Poor Colleen. She had a rough flight in an airplane--an airplane which still managed to land safely at it's intended destination--and now she claims that she's so scared to fly that she can't apply for better jobs so she's suing several airlines.

Lubbock resident Colleen O'Neal flew from College Station to Houston on Oct. 29, 2009, when tornados and thunderstorms were reported in the region, she alleges in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Harris County district court.

The plane took off and soon hit turbulence. The normally short flight took more than two hours, and the suit alleges the plane "fell repeatedly, and felt as if it had lost power and was falling out of the sky."

O'Neal believed she was going to die and has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and fears flying, she alleges.

A Texas Department of Public Safety employee, she had hoped to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a job that would require air travel. She alleges that because she no longer travels by air, she has lost out on economic benefits.

O'Neal purchased the ticket from Continental. She is also suing United Airlines, which merged with Continental last year. Colgan Air, owned by Pinnacle Airlines, operated the aircraft. She is suing all four for physical and mental anguish, medical bills and the cost of the lawsuit.

So because she now chooses not to fly, she declined to pursue a job that she was interested in, yet presumes that had she continued flying, she'd have gotten that job.

Frankly, Colleen O'Neal sounds like the kind of person best kept away from any job that requires stable, rational people with maturity and integrity. She apparently already works for Texas Department of Public Safety (God help Texas. Hopefully it's not in any sworn capacity.) and she wants federal employment with FEMA, which she claims that she can never have now because she's too scared to fly. Based on her demonstrated thought process and actions in this story, I'm not sure that I'd want her working unsupervised on the night shift at my local 7-11, much less entrusted with a government job giving her any authority over me and my fellow Americans.

And shame on the ambulance chaser who agreed to file this case in a real court on her behalf.

Update: Plaintiff's attorney has also included GE, parent company of NBC-TV, fictional Sandpiper Airlines, and the cast of Wings since that show was also about flying, and sometimes there's bad weather in and around Nantucket.

For my part, I'd be more than happy to represent Crystal Bernard...even though I'm not a lawyer. She's hot.

I will say that the plaintiff is not representative of TX-DPS. I work with TX Troopers often and they are some of the finest people you'll ever meet.